5 Social Lessons From The Rush Limbaugh Imbroglio

In the real-time world, reaction is immediate and dictated by social groups. Consider these crisis communications tips for social marketers.

No matter on which side of the political fence you sit, the controversy surrounding the inflammatory commentary by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh holds potent lessons for social marketing executives.

Where once reaction to controversial topics would be slow to form, and actions such as boycotts were measured in months or years, that is no longer the case. In the moments following Limbaugh's remarks regarding testimony by Sandra Fluke, the social networks moved from outrage to boycott.

What lessons does the controversy hold for social marketers? In the video below, social network guru Allen Bonde, CMO of The Pulse Network and a former McKinsey and Co. analyst, and I break down the issues. In the era of real-time, social-network-fueled action, what steps should a social marketer take to prepare for analyzing and responding to a corporate crisis? Bonde offers five steps social marketing experts should take to prepare for crisis communications.

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Great discussion with Allen, Eric. It seems like the rules for crisis management are the same in principle as they were in years past, but, with social media, the window you have for effective response has been narrowed significantly (to put it mildly). Rather than days to figure out what to do you have hours (if that).

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